In a casino, many games played at live tables involve playing cards. Examples of such games include blackjack, poker, baccarat, pai-gow poker, Let-It-Ride™, Caribbean Stud™ and many others. Playing cards at live table games typically involves several operational requirements that are time-consuming. These operations include collecting, shuffling and dealing of the cards. Such operations require specially trained dealers to perform them. As a result, besides time losses in performing the operations, cost is incurred to train a dealer or hire a skilled dealer. Moreover, cheating may also be a problem. To prevent such cheating, constant camera surveillance or frequent patrols are required. Such measures further add to the cost incurred.
In order to overcome the above problems, the electronic gaming industry has created video game machines with electronic dealers, virtual cards and buttons to execute functions associated with the game played. Some prior art automates card play but uses real chips. Moreover, some virtual prior art requires a dealer who is skilled in card games, calculation and distribution of winnings, as it is incapable of one or more of such tasks.
Many prior art card gaming machines are designed without considering the player's needs. For example, many players appreciate interaction with the cards and chips. Such players enjoy the experiences of suspense and the thrill when live spectators cheer them on as they reveal a final card bit by bit at the card edges. Such players may also enjoy the freedom to manoeuvre chips into the betting area not just by looking at numbers or non-interactive computer images signifying virtual chips. Presently, no prior art card gaming machine can completely fulfil such needs.
Hence, it was with knowledge of the foregoing concerns that the present invention was conceived and has now been reduced to practice.